Gaia GPS
Ranked 2 of 3 route planning apps by recommenders
Hikers and backcountry users rely on it for maps and navigation on the ground, though it runs on a subscription and one person reports flaky offline service.
Hikers and backcountry users rely on it for maps and navigation on the ground, though it runs on a subscription and one person reports flaky offline service.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Heavy use for on-the-ground navigation
“Gaia is what I use on the ground but it's about where you are, not about where the trail is”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “guide.world: A compendium of travel guides” “which I use extensively. So I'm basically buying the Gaia subscription”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “A giant ball will help this man survive a year on an iceberg”
Other route planning apps people recommend
The two most recommended other route planning apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 3 route planning apps, rankedWhat people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“flaky offline service (Alltrails, and recently, Gaia)”
“It works perfectly fine and it has for a long time”
“Gaia is what I use on the ground but it's about where you are, not about where the trail is”
“I really do miss it (also Apollo, Google Reader, Gaia GPS”
“I find Gaia Maps even better for the boonies.”
“which I use extensively. So I'm basically buying the Gaia subscription”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.